The Blonde hair and Green eyes: Part II of Never the same again
by Zannab0801
Summary: Finding Jaylene was his Priority Alpha. Nothing was more important even as two years passed by, but when Raph meets a newly recruited enemy assassin whose past is unclear, the turtles discover that they are in need of her assistance, as she is in need of theirs.
1. Prologue

This is a part two of my fanfiction, Never the same again. I recommend reading the first one to understand this story a little better, but it's alright not to. I will write a short summary of my first fanfic at the end of this prologue. Enjoy!

* * *

Raph's eyes flutter slowly, waking up from a wonderful dream, though he doesn't remember any of it. He was not even sure it was a good dream, but it certainly felt like it from the happy, tingling feeling in his stomach.

As he stretches his arms above his head and opens his eyes, he finds himself lying on a couch, but not just any couch, it was in Jaylene's apartment living room. He spins around to take in all the details of her home despite his presence at this place multiples of times.

A light, cold breeze blows the back of his neck and he turns in the direction of the balcony, his emerald green orbs finally settling on a sight for sore eyes. Jaylene. The brunette stands facing the sun, with her arms wrapped around her shoulders, head held high, with the soft patches of sunlight shining on her face.

Could she have looked more angelic? And the red banded turtle answers that question with an image appearing in his mind. It was shortly after she attended Darryl's party, and he spotted her sitting with her legs hanging off the edge of the building of their secret place. Her light blue dress reflected the moonlight, creating an angelic glow to her appearance, and it erased all negative thoughts in his mind. It was the happiest moment he had ever shared with someone that night, though it happened almost a year ago.

He walks towards her cautiously, and he did not know the reason why he moved ever so carefully. His arms wrap around her upper arms and he rests his hands on her stomach, with his plastron pressed against her back and his chin rested on the place between her neck and shoulder. He hears a soft sigh escape from her lips before she speaks, her voice like music to his ears.

"Good morning Raphael", she begins with, her eyes fixed blankly on the scenery below her. Raph smiles softly at her in return, knowing she didn't expect a reply because his presence was enough for her. "Hope you slept well…and what did you think of the movie we watched last night?" she asks with a sleepy tone, and the turtle furrows his brows at her question.

He doesn't recall watching a movie the night before, let alone remember at least a small bit of the dream he had last night. Ignoring what she had asked, he abruptly asks a question that had been on his mind for three months. It may have been too sudden, but he needed answers, straight from her.

"Why did you leave?" he bursts out, and strangely, Jaylene remained calm, not moving or flinching from his slightly prying tone, which shocked him. The brunette sighs and replies, "I had to. You, your brothers, and Splinter mean everything to me. I love you so much; I needed to find a way to keep you safe away from the enemy."

Raph sighs much like she did just before as he squeezes her petite body and turns her around to face him. "I miss you, Y'know."

Jaylene nods calmly and says, "I know", as she gazes into his eyes, her steel blue orbs shining with truth. The turtle leans in to place a tender, loving kiss on her lips, but when his lips are about to come in contact with hers, she disappears. His hands are no longer gripping her upper arms, and he is only holding onto the air where her body was supposed to be. He whirls around, eyes darting to spot a glimpse of her and she is nowhere in sight. A deep voice yells out, "Yame!" before the pain in his lower abdomen hits and his back slams into the wall, hard.

Raph blinks several times and finds himself in the dojo, with Leo kneeling in front of him, mouthing something. The high pitched ringing in his ears quietens down, and is replaced with a voice talking to him. Leo's voice. The voice soon matches with the movement of his brother's lips and he is asking him something. "Raph? Raph, are you alright?" the blue banded turtle worriedly asks his brother as he grabs his biceps and shakes him, though he knew how much Raph hated it when he did that.

"Huh? I'm fine. What happened?" Raph wonders while rubbing his aching shell and Donnie pipes up. "You and Leo were getting ready to spar, but you looked like your mind was somewhere else…now I know it is."

Leo nods and says, "Look, I'm sorry Raph. I thought you were ready." _It was unlike Raph to be unprepared for a spar…especially when it's with me…, _the words appear in his mind.

He picks up his brother's sais sprawled on the ground and hands it to the turtle sitting on the ground, who was still a little dazed, but the red banded turtle's expression changes drastically from his words of apology as he snatches his sais from Leo's hands.

"Are you saying I can't take a hit?" Raph snaps back at his elder brother and abruptly stands up, his eyes fixed on Splinter. "Sorry sensei, but I can't do this. Not now", before stalking out the dojo, and tossing his sais at the wall beside him because it seemed like an appropriate time.

Raph stands in front of the pinball machine, aimlessly pressing the buttons like a robot. "What's wrong with me?" he asks himself and continues to press the buttons and stare blankly at the game.

"That dream just felt so…real. Like she was really there. Like she was with me." A robotic sound disturbs his thoughts and he turns to find that he had lost his game in pinball; nowhere near his brothers' high scores, but the results didn't bother him.

"Never mind, my head isn't in the game anyway. Maybe I could clear my thoughts outside", he decides, abandoning the game and hopping over a turnstile with one hand and heading down the path of the tunnel.

* * *

He played back the daydream in his mind as he strolled on the rooftops and from time to time, punching the brick wall when it stood beside him.

Listening to her reply in why she left them didn't satisfy him. He was sure that Jaylene knew his feelings for her, but did she keep it in mind when she made the decision to sacrifice herself? She may have been missing for three months already, but she always haunted him in his dreams and every time, he tried to bring himself to ask for her reasons in why she left, but chose to remain silent and only enjoy the moments he had with her.

His mind still distracted, he stumbles over a crack on the ground and falls to his knees, hands landing on the edge of the building to steady himself, but glancing down at the alleyway below him, he sees…her. Her flawless skin and silky, short blonde hair flowed with the wind as she ran deeper into the dead end. The girl was beautiful.

As he tilts his head to the other end of the alleyway, he spots her backing away from something, or, someone. A skull-masked, black-hooded man was walking towards her like she was his prey, and in his hands, was a hockey stick. Not a deadly weapon, but it could injure the girl.

Raph's view of the scene was not the best as he only sees the back of the teen, but he can clearly see the front appearance of the man approaching her, and he was definitely not friendly. The turtle prepares to jump down and help her; reaching for his sais to realize he had left them at the dojo. At the moment, he possesses his back up weapons and nothing else.

_I chose a bad time to leave my sais back at the lair, _he growls irritated and pauses to choose whether saving her without a proper weapon was a good idea. "Oh well, she needs a hero", he finally decides, getting ready to jump off the roof, but below him, the girl suddenly pulls out a red whip and lashes it at the man.

The end of the whip wraps around the man's neck and she yanks her end of the weapon, pulling the man closer to her.

Raph stood silently, mouth agape at the sight as the girl spins and slams the man against the side of a green dumpster bin, the whip strangling him. Fortunately, the girl turns where he catches a front view of her and his jaw drops even lower than before.

She appears to be a ninja, kunoichi perhaps as a white mask covers the bottom half of her face and reaches halfway up her nose while she is wearing a white spandex suit with a red belt hanging around her waist and white high-heeled boots. The girl has shining green eyes, full of fire and passion and her hair drapes slightly past her shoulders.

Raph stares in awe at how she was defeating the man and as he leaps down to have a closer look, his eyes widen at the symbol on her shoulder. A foot clan symbol. Processing this new clue, the red banded turtle realizes the masked man isn't the bad guy and she isn't the victim. It is in fact, the opposite.

Knowing whose side to join, the turtle jumps in and kicks the girl in the back, feeling a little guilt for his action. She releases the grip of the whip she had around the man's neck and stumbles to the ground, taken aback from the impact and all at once, the masked man untangles the whip and throws it behind him, staring at the turtle next to him, with the girl wearing the same stunned expression.

"You-You're a giant turtle", he says and Raph rolls his eyes. "Wow, thanks for telling me something I have known for fifteen years", he replies, sarcasm thick in his voice before he turns his attention to the girl a few feet away.

"Who are you? Are you with the Foot?" He asks, though he knew the answer to the second question and it was quite pointless in asking it. The girl no longer wearing the shocked expression when he spoke, changes her facial appearance to a confused, yet reminiscent look.

He sees a ghost of a sly smile appear on her lips before she pulls something from behind her. Smoke bombs. His mind was quick to think when he saw the small objects she held in her hands, but his reactions were too slow.

He lunges at her a second after she slams the smoke bombs on the ground and he instead crashes into the wall with a loud thump. "Nice one Raph. Second time today", he says to himself, referring to how many times he had crashed into the wall as he rubs his head from the pain, and deep in thought.

The mysterious girl is gone, but who is she? He had never seen her before in his life, but the look of remembrance on her face conveyed that she had seen him once. _Maybe she spies on you like Karai spied on Leo a year ago, _his mind suggested, and he settled with that thought as he moved away from the wall he crashed into earlier.

A shuffling sound behind him catches his attention and he slowly turns to face the masked man. "Do you know her?" he asks and the man shakes his head.

"No dude. I was beating up some guys who were cornering a shop keeper and she suddenly jumped in and kicked me in the face. I think she was on their side, but she didn't look like one of them. I chased her, and the next thing I knew, I was being strangled by her whip and a giant mutant turtle saves me."

Raph nods in response and his thoughts ponder on the man's story as he scratches his head in slight confusion. No suggestions appear in his mind, so he begins to walk away, but a large glove placed on his shoulder stops him. "But…thanks dude", the man says, adding onto his explanation, and from the tone in his voice, the red banded turtle knew this man was not the type to show gratitude often.

Raph smirks and replies, "No problem", and outstretches his hand in greeting. "Names Raph", he chooses to introduce himself with, as this was not a formal meeting.

The man lifts his hood and takes his skull-like mask off, revealing he was no older than eighteen years old with brown eyes, raven black hair and had missing two front teeth. He too smirks and grasps Raph's hand tightly before replying, "Jones. Casey Jones."

* * *

_**Fin**_

I had an urge to post the prologue so badly, so I did, though the chapters may come a while later. I have already sorted out most of the details for the story, and just need to add some stuff for the middle chapters. Surprising how I came up with the prologue before I'm going to post the next chapters, but this part was quite easy to write up. Please review for your opinion on what you think about this intro!

_Short Summary of Never the same again (Based after season 1):_

_The turtles find an unconscious girl in the sewers who was accidentally shot by one of the kraang droids they were battling against, and discover she had slipped into a coma. Feeling responsible for her condition, the turtles take her back to the lair where she is under Donnie's care for several months. When she wakes up all of a sudden, she attacks the turtles and tries to escape, showing skill in some forms of ninjutsu, but they are able to defeat her where she introduces herself as Jaylene O'Denlly, a fourteen year old whose parents are extremely wealthy, but divorced, so she lives in an apartment of her own in the city. _

_They decide to welcome her into their family, Splinter happily agreeing, as she is somewhat alone from not going to public school and having a tutor instead. When Jaylene goes on patrol for the first time with the turtles, they encounter Karai, who Jaylene informs the turtles is her friend from when she lived in Japan a couple of years ago. _

_Karai soon remembers who Jaylene is, and tries to convince her to join her side with the Shredder, as she believes that Splinter is evil because he killed her mother Tang-Shen (Karai not knowing the truth that Splinter is her father). _

_As weeks turn into months, Raph has fallen for Jaylene and finally has the feelings returned when Jaylene has a bad time at a party of her father's colleague, encountering Karai on the same night. Karai has many attempts in persuading Jaylene to join her, even capturing Donnie as hostage and 'bait', where Jaylene thinks Karai is going too far, and devises a plan to return Donnie home safely, and handing herself over to the enemy as she wishes to keep the turtles safe since Karai will be satisfied she has joined the enemy side. _

_Jaylene's plan is not explained to the turtles and she makes a secret deal with Karai to release Donnie if she takes his spot, and Donnie explains her plan to his brothers when he discovers the whole truth after he escapes and sees Jaylene being pushed into a kraang van to move to a new base. Raph, who is crushed by Jaylene's sacrifice, promises to find her and save her with the help of his brothers. _

_Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT 2012_


	2. New Mission

As his fist came in contact with the surface of the cylinder object, a ripple effect occurred, like waves of water across the stiff fabric. The sound was deafening, but no one would have heard it. No one was around to hear it. He was alone in the room, a gymnasium, and not his of course. The gym belongs to his girlfriend, or rather, **belonged **to his girlfriend, though details didn't matter. 'Belonged', because he didn't know whether she was alive, dead, or just plain missing. He wished she were alive, but it depended on the condition she was in. He didn't want to find her alive with a broken back or fractured skull, and he trusted her past with Karai that it wouldn't happen, but he felt somewhere inside of him that there was a higher chance of her being dead. It had been two years after all.

He lived in two years of sadness, anger and heartbreak with happiness only coming from moments with his brothers and Casey. His best friend seemed oblivious to his despair, and he was quite surprised he hasn't realized till now. Being seventeen, he should move on, but he couldn't. Breathing the air reminded him of Jaylene, so there was no way he could just, forget the year he spent with her.

He slammed his clenched hands into the red, and now-scratched and dented punching bag; the impact caused the chain that held it to break, sending the punching bag flying through the room before skidding on the floor. The turtle panted heavily, sweat dripping from his chin and tears streaming down his face.

_Hopefully she won't be mad that I broke it…if she ever returns, _the thought crossed his mind, also pushing in his feeling of doubt into the sentence. He first, entered her apartment without permission and second, broke three of her punching bags in counting, but he didn't count trespassing as a bad thing since Jaylene probably didn't mind.

A picklock to opening her apartment window lay on the balcony floor when he came to her home, and that was of utmost, not, an accident. Three words came into his head seeing the picklock, _She. Was. Prepared. _

Prepared for what was going to happen, prepared to be taken away by the enemy to protect them. The sacrifice was daring, but she did not know the pain it brought to him from the moment he heard that she had done something like that.

Raphael strolled through the hallway outside of the gym, making a beeline towards the kitchen. He grasped his water bottle that was placed on the kitchen bench, the cold droplets of water dampening his fingers, before he put the bottle to his lips and allowed the cool water to trickle down his tongue and throat, satisfying his thirst. Upon placing his bottle back on the kitchen bench, his emerald green orbs spotted a white piece of paper which seemed misplaced, or he had never realized it was there before.

Curiosity got the better of him, and he picked up the paper, skim reading through the words written.

_Dear Mrs. Lawson,_

_Sorry this may have been a late notice, but I'm in Italy right now because some friends have invited me to stay with them for a while. I will contact you when I return, and please tell my parents that I will be gone. Thank you for being my tutor as I have learned a lot from you, so there is a gift from me, waiting at your house to show my gratitude._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Jaylene O'Denlly_

The note was slightly wrinkled on the edges, indicating that Mrs. Lawson had already read the note, but from the start of the message, Raph knew everything written was a lie…well, most of it anyway. He remembered Jaylene said to him that she was lonely and was glad she met him and his brothers, as she didn't have many friends because her father travelled so much. She never had time to settle in a public school to make close friends, and the only one she had since she was young, was Karai, so she was definitely not in Italy with friends. Wondering where she really was reminded him that her location was unknown.

Since Karai dumped Jaylene in a kraang van to move to a new base, which was Donnie's theory, she could be anywhere. Possibly even out of the country and on the other side of the world, and again, thinking about her whereabouts reminded him that she was prepared and planned everything out, even for her tutor.

A small movement stirred behind him, and there was no doubt that it wasn't a fly. His instincts told him that whoever or whatever was behind him was dangerous, for the reason he did not know why. Grasping three shurikens from his belt, each one held between the gaps of his fingers, and he tosses it in the direction of the intruder.

The sound of an object blocking his shurikens rang three times, one after another. Raph knew this person too had fast reflexes, and decides to catch a glimpse to make sure he knew who he was battling.

Turning around, he comes face to face with the youngest member of his family holding nuchucks on both hands and both legs bent after whacking the shurikens away. Though he was not so young anymore, the turtle was still immature. Even becoming a seventeen year old didn't stop Mikey from shifting into having a more mature attitude, and it definitely didn't stop him from pulling more of his obnoxious pranks on his brothers. _Heck, even I didn't change too much from the turtle I was a couple of years ago_, Raph realizes as he takes four confident steps towards his brother.

"What are you doing here Mikey?" he demands, feeling that Jaylene's apartment was only meant for him to hang out at. It was sacred, Jaylene and his territory.

"You think I haven't been to this place dude? I love coming here, and I know about the picklock. But I came here for the swimming pool in the other room", the orange banded turtle replies and points behind him with his thumb while beaming brightly before dropping his hand back to his side and changing his expression to show he is not going to joke around at the moment. "Raph, you're almost always not at the lair anymore", the young turtle states and Raph crosses his arms, cocking one eyebrow at the same time.

"So? Why do you care where I am in the day?" he says curtly, the tone of his voice pricking Mikey slightly. Mikey shifts his weight uncomfortably, searching for the words to reply with.

"I remembered when you walked out on training, Y'know, a few years ago. I thought sensei would stop you, but we know you took her sacrifice the hardest. And when you came home, Casey was following behind you and I remember Donnie saying that it will be a disaster since two 'Raphs' are gonna be at the lair", Mikey chuckles holding his hands over his abdomen as he continues to laugh. The young turtle's laughter was the same as usual, never changing, and Raph felt less uncomfortable hearing it every time.

The red banded turtle grunts in response, but smiles inwardly as his grip tightens on the forgotten note. The crinkling of the paper caught Mikey's attention, and the turtle tilts his head to stare down at the note in his brother's hand. "What's that Raph?" his curious voice squeaks when he asks, and points at the paper.

Raph also glances at the note and loosens his grip around it, sighing sadly. "It's a note from Jaylene to her tutor…nothing too important though", he exasperatedly replies and rapidly mutters the last part.

A buzzing on his hip interrupted him, and he placed his hand against his belt to grab his t-phone. Quickly glancing at the caller ID, Donnie's picture appeared on the screen. Seeing it was his brother, he pressed the button to answer the call before placing the phone to his ear and said, "Hello?"

A split second later the purple banded turtle replied. "Raph! Come home quickly, there's something I need to show you!" the turtle on the other end exclaimed and hung up. Raph looked at the phone with a quizzical expression and shrugged as Mikey stared at him. He seemed to have heard what Donnie had said and was already walking to the balcony. The red banded turtle followed suit, scurrying after his brother; still clutching onto his phone, and started heading back to the lair.

* * *

"Hey man, where have ya been?" The raven black haired teen greeted his friend with a clap on the shell as he entered Donnie's lab with Mikey swiftly trotting past and headed straight to stand next to Leo. The red banded turtle shoved Casey with one hand and rolled his eyes playfully. "Just outside", he replied plainly as a sad smile crept up his lips, but his now-twenty, year old friend didn't notice.

Hearing the presence of his brother from the chuckles near the doorway caused him to face-palm. The purple banded turtle had received an urgent message just recently, and here they are, joking around like they were fifteen. It was weird to think that him and his brothers were seventeen already, April was eighteen and Casey was twenty years old. He couldn't believe that two years had passed, but since he was so caught up in the search for their missing friend, maybe two years passing by was believable.

He almost forgot about celebrating their mutation day when he woke up on the date of that morning, and his brothers claimed he was too obsessed with searching for Jaylene, but he always countered with why they were giving up. After a year Leo and Mikey lost hope while he continued searching, and Raph was still convinced she was alive. It was hard though, because he didn't know where to start looking and they didn't have any spies to work as double-agents in the enemy's base, until an idea came into his head ten months ago, which he needed to inform his brothers of, because he had gathered an essential piece of information.

"Well if you two meatheads aren't busy, I have some important news for everyone", Donnie says to interrupt Casey and Raph, but loud enough for April and his brothers to hear his announcement. Everyone's eyes were laid on him as he stood up from behind his work desk and leaned a single armed against it.

"Ten months ago while we were on patrol and we came across a group of foot soldiers right?" he asked the gang in the room with everyone nodding in response and it motions for him to continue.

"Yes well, I took one back to the lair, but don't worry, it didn't do any harm", the purple banded turtle rapidly added when Leo's expression changed into a slightly angry, and stunned expression.

"Anyway, I was able to override its systems and plant a device that allows us to monitor its movements, and see what it sees. I sent it back to the Foot headquarters, and the Footbot does not know that we can track it while it does its regular routines. I figured that it will work as a 'double agent' in a way, and it may find out where Jaylene is", he grinned at the end of his explanation with his front, gapped-tooth teeth showing.

The others stood jaw-dropped at his plan. It was genius, and something only Donnie can come up with. "So, have you found anything?" Leo asks and it pulls everyone out of their hypnotic state that began from the moment they heard Donnie's plan.

Donnie smiles wider and nods excitedly, glad one of his brothers finally asks the question. "I did find out that the Shredder returned from a business trip in Japan, when the Footbot bowed down to him at his lair. And, we hit the jackpot when I found out that the Footbot we are using is one of the messengers for the kraang and Shredder, so most of the time it receives important messages exchanged between them", and he paused, allowing the gang to process his theory.

"And just earlier today when I watched the Footbot's camera, it was searching through computers for the kraang, and I was even able to record their password patterns and everything, but that's not the point. The point is, the Footbot searched through a whole lot of files, just to find a particular location. It went to a lot of trouble to find that place, so it must be top secret, meaning it's important. Again, I overrode the Footbot and searched through the files to find at least a small portion of information about that place, and a profile about this teen named Astraea, came up. I didn't find out much about her before I had to sign off and let the robot go back to its usual self before the kraang around it suspected anything."

The purple banded turtle spun around and moved to stand behind his desk, hands on the keyboard of his computer, ready to type. The tapping of his fingers against the keys was the only sound heard for several minutes in the lab, aside from the heavy breathing caused by the nervous tingling that lingered in the air and made all except Casey, sick to the stomach. Wondering if Donnie's lead would help them find Jaylene stuck to their minds, and they were afraid of the truth.

Donnie motioned with one hand for everyone to gather around his computer as he pointed to the screen and said, "This is the place."

On the screen there was a picture of an old, unused building, but with a white van parked in the alleyway adjacent to it, and the familiar face of a disguised kraang in a human suit, was definitely suspicious. "The photo was taken last year, so the kraang are probably still in the building, doing who knows what", Donnie spoke again, but with his eyes fixed on Raph, showing hope and fear in them.

He didn't need to tell his brother what he was feeling, because the red banded turtle plastered on his 'it's go time' face with his fists clenching. "Wait…and why are we going to go to that place?" The twenty year old asked, and Donnie was sure he heard a gasp coming from his younger brother.

"To look for Jay! And even I know why we're going…I think", Mikey burst out and waved his arms in the air to emphasize his point. All eyes were on Casey, but judging from the look on his face, he still didn't get it. Leo face-palmed and groaned, irritation clearly displayed while Raph grabbed his friend by the shoulders and shook him. "Seriously?! Do you even know who Jaylene is?!" he yelled and Casey's expression changed from the mention of her name.

"Jaylene? Yah mean Jaylene O'Denlly?" He asked with a hint of remembrance on his face.

"None other", Donnie replied curtly, but wondering why Casey was clueless to her name. _I'm sure Raph already told him about Jaylene…, _he thought, but he had a suggestion of the possibility that Casey might have not known this whole time.

Casey rolled his eyes at the purple banded turtle and scowled, but shrugged and mumbled, "Yeah I do remember her now. And I don't think I have told you guys, but I met her at a party my friend hosted", and from those words, Leo was relieved that Casey does know who Jaylene is, but also spoke up from hearing the words 'A party my friend hosted'.

"You mean, Darryl Haglen's party?" he asked with a hint of strain in his voice. The raven haired teen nodded and arched an eyebrow, curious expression spreading across his face.

"Yeah…how'd yah know that name?" he inquired since he had never spoken about his human friend to the turtles, and even April. Leo was hesitant to reply and shot a look at his brothers, wondering if he should tell Casey the truth about his 'best friend'. He hoped Casey would not break down as he opened his mouth, knowing he may regret his action.

"Casey, your friend…Darryl…are you guys…close?" the words tumbled out of his mouth, and he figured it may be easier to start with this question first.

"Oh yeah, we're tight dude. We're the stars of the hockey team, but obviously I'm better. We're also seniors though, so the rest of the team won't stand a chance against our power", he replied, not holding back on the proud tone he spoke with. He pounded his fists together and smirked as the blue banded turtle's face was drained of color, leaving only a light, pale shade of green remaining. He had a sharp intake of breath and dragged his feet across the floor to rest on the other, the skidding of his toes clearly implying his nervous attitude.

"Casey, Darryl is not who you think he is…" Leo starts.

"He's a ninja working for the Shredder. He's more like our enemy than a friend…and I think Leos jealous because Darryl is just like him and he thinks Karai likes Darryl better than him!" Mikey blurts out and races to hide behind Donnie incase Leo would attack him, but Leo, trying to act like the mature adult he is, only glares at his little brother for a few minutes before turning to Casey and saying, "Mikeys right. Darryl is not really your friend…sorry you had to find that out and we hoped you would never know, but it's hard if we were about to battle him."

Casey widens his eyes at both Mikey and Leo as he listens, and turns to look at Raph for if he agreed that the information was true or not, but somehow, he suspected that Raph would nod for 'yes', so he was not surprised at the turtle's reply. His expression is blank and body unmoving, only the small sound of his breathing heard instead of a reply including words.

April moves to stand beside Casey and places a warm hand on his shoulder, in a caring gesture, which Donnie responses to by flinching slightly. He scratches his chin and raises his hand, hoping to receive everyone's full attention. "We're going on a mission. Check out the apartment, gather some intel, and get. Out", the purple banded turtle instructs, and at the same time, cutting in April and Casey's moment by giving orders.

The turtles and April nod in unison as Donnie glances at their faces, before coming to a halt when his eyes settle on Casey. "You ready Jones?" he asks the raven haired adult and the twenty year old pounds his fists together, no longer disappointed by the news about his friend and says, "Let's go", with determination gleaming in his eyes.

* * *

_**Fin**_

Sorry for the long wait, but at least the first chapter is up, but again, the next chapter will come a while later. This chapter is also rushed, as you can tell, and not as much action as the other one so apologies for that too. So the turtles, April and Casey are on a mission, and a surprise awaits for them at the kraang base. Please review!

Cat girl:  
In reply to your previous review, I'm intrigued as to how you two are similar since the kunoichi is mysterious and dodgy, and I don't think you are, but reading the story further, you may have some similarities to her. Cool name by the way, and thanks for your review! Really appreciate it and hope you continue to read! :-D

_Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT 2012_


	3. The Mysterious Building

Tonight was the night. The time had finally come for the turtles, April and Casey to go on their first proper mission in finding Jaylene. They have waited so long, too long perhaps, to start searching for their missing friend, and it seemed that two long years of no clues, no new findings had lead them to prepare for this special search.

Raph stood still, and silently in his room, the darkness and dim light above his head was the only company he had, plus the presence of his beloved companion Spike.

He grasped the brown photo frame tightly, and stared at the image, eyes settled on the brunette. The photo was taken a day after his and Jaylene's midnight picnic, a memory that clung to him with the same amount of grip he had on the photo. On the glossy image, his arm was wrapped around Jaylene's shoulder, and he looked…happy.

Sounded strange when that thought crossed his mind, but another way to put it, is he was genuinely, happy. To him, it felt like a crime to wear a mask to cover his real feelings, pretending to be happy or joke around when he was not, but the times he had sudden rages or had moments where he did not speak, worried his brothers, though they knew the reason for his out of control emotions.

"What do I do Spike? I'm a wreck", Raph says to his pet, patting him on the head as Spike munches on his leaf in response. "Hopefully we find Jaylene…soon. And maybe we'll leave in a few hours, and if not, minutes", he speaks to himself and thinks back to the moment in Donnie's lab occurring in the afternoon.

_Earlier that day,_

_Donnie nods firmly at Casey, spins on his heel and walks towards his computer to find the address and if lucky, the blueprints about the 'kraang's possible-new base'. Raph only watches his brother silently, and when he drifts his gaze over everyone in the room, they were doing the same. His heart was thumping with a rhythmic beat like a metronome, and it matched the speed of Donnie's fingers typing on the keyboard when he focused his ears on the two sounds. _

_There was a lot of pressure on his brother since he made the discovery, and when his part was completed, it would be time for him, his brothers, Casey and April to step in to take on their role of this search. This was the first time Donnie had made a breakthrough with his researching for Jaylene, and the red banded turtle was more than eager to go on this mission as soon as possible. _

_The successful beep from his computer indicated that Donnie had found the address of the kraang building, but why did he wear a slightly disappointed expression? _

'_Guess he didn't find the blueprints', Raph thought sadly, but then he situated himself to look on the bright side of things. 'Doesn't matter, cause I don't think we'll need it. We'll get in the kraang base without the blueprints', he thought to prevent his mind from pushing forward the second thoughts he might have pondered on, about the mission. _

_As Donnie walked away from his computer, he snatches his t-phone with the address already downloaded before lifting his eyes to face everyone in the room as Raph did the same to fix his attention on his brother. "Get ready guys…we leave tonight", Donnie instructs._

Raph remembers the look on Donnie's face. How it was unsure, and was it about the mission? He looked like he was worried about some minor details. _Don't worry, Donnie is always prepared for these kinds of things, _the red banded turtle reminds himself and nods at the thought.

He strides from one end of his room to the left handed side, where his drum set was located. He taps the tip of his fingers repeatedly against the surface of the crash cymbal, increasing the intenseness of the atmosphere, and the effect it had on him.

He stops short when the strong, but yet, soft rapping of knuckles against the door caught him of guard. Just as he was about to head towards the door to open it, a particular, concerned turtle entered the room, with the squeaking of the door following straight after he placed one foot in Raph's room.

"You…alright…Raph?" Leo asks with a pause in between each word. He was half-in-half-out his brother's room, uncertain if Raph's reply was going to be calm or throw a tantrum, which is why Leo was only partly in the room so that he could avoid the anger Raph might have, since he seemed to have interrupted him.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" The red banded turtle replies, but his eyes are never leaving the photo he was still holding on to. _Okay…so he's not mad. Not calm either, but not mad, _Leo breathes a sigh of relief as he steps deeper into his brother's territory.

Walking ever so slowly, he cautiously and curiously glances over Raph's shoulder to catch a glimpse of what he was gazing at. The look in his emerald green eyes was fond, with a hint of happy remembrance, and the corners of Leo's mouth twitches at the sight of this. It had been a very long time since he had seen this expression, and it made Leo happy to see his brother happy, after what they all had been through.

_Wish Jaylene was here, and everything, and everyone would return to their normal selves, _Leo hopes as he too stares at the photo in Raph's grasp. _Her sacrifice seemed to have brought the sadness out of Raph. _

A few seconds pass, and Leo jumps and backs away when Raph all of a sudden, flinches before gently placing the photo on his shelf. The blue banded turtle had thought his brother would have commented or made a smart remark on why he was still in the room, but only dead silence came after Raph's act.

Leo's mouth opened and closed several times as he debated on whether to place a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder, or wait until Raph says something because his responses were unpredictable. He finally reaches his hand out, but came to a halt just as his fingers would have touched the red banded turtle's shell, before choosing to let the reassuring words tumble out of his mouth.

"Don't worry Raph, we'll find her", he says, not mentioning the when and where, but the words caused Raph to mutter something in return, as the same words were spoken by Donnie two years ago, the night Jaylene was gone, and it only brought miserable feelings and memories to him.

Moments later, Raph hears the steady thumping of footsteps as the words played in a loop in his head, and the sound was very distant even though it occurred right outside his room. But the noises quieten down soon enough when he listens to the statement he had been waiting for the whole day to be spoken. "It's time", the purple banded turtle says, with the result of Raph's fists clenching shortly after he makes the announcement.

* * *

"Team A? Ready?" Leo asks Casey and Raph; their reply was their fists smashing into their palms and the cracking of knuckles. He gives a swift nod, and Raph stealthily tuck and rolled, before smashing the lock of the garage gate open with his sai, followed with the use of his three fingers to point past the doorway, deeper into the darkness.

The blue banded turtle hears a brief gulp from the twenty year old stiffly standing next to him, and Casey hesitates at the order from Raph, but begins to walk cautiously towards his friend, legs bent, and head ducked low as they both disappear into the apartment.

Leo knew that Casey was nervous about this mission, since they didn't have a lot of information about this kraang building, and it looked dodgy, especially since it was night time, but also because the area surrounding it was extremely quiet, and the building seemed too old to have droids busy inside, which would have made it a perfect secret base.

It was just hiding in plain-sight, and no one would have looked twice into a run-down building since they were unstable and off-limits. But here they were, standing behind dumpster bins in the dark alleyway next to the building and looking into the mysteriousness of the place, hoping to find a person important to them.

The sound of laser guns going off caused April to bury her face into Donnie's plastron, not wanting to watch what was going on though the action was happening inside. Donnie, who was surprised at her act, rubbed her back in soothing circles to calm her down, happy that she chose him to use as her comforter, but disappointment had also enveloped him, for the reason the red-headed woman hid her face in worry, was because of Casey's safety.

The blasting of the laser guns were soon silent, and everyone waited anxiously before seeing a green hand using a 'thumbs up' gesture sticking out of the darkness. They exhaled the breaths that they had held without knowing they were holding them, and their shoulders visibly relaxed, as Raph's hand was a signal of a successful step one.

"Team B, get ready in your positions", Leo orders Donnie and Mikey, but receives a complaint from Mikey while Donnie positions his arm to shoot the grappling gun aiming at the second floor, for an ambush from above in case more kraang began to attack Casey, Raph, April and Leo who were heading inside the building. "I thought we agreed that we were team 'A minus'", the youngest turtle grumbled as he crossed his arms and pouted, but being seventeen didn't make it look any cuter than it was before two years ago.

Leo, who rolls his eyes at his little brother, sees that he is unsatisfied with the name 'Team B' and sighs exasperatedly. He feels the tapping of a slim finger on his shoulder, belonging to April, and he flicks his head in the direction of the garage doorway, telling her to go first and that he would catch up.

"Fine. Team A minus, hurry. Into. Your. Positions", He says through gritted teeth, and fortunately, the orange banded turtle skips happily to stand adjacent to Donnie as they both shoot the grappling guns in unison, before traveling up the side of the building and onto the floor above.

The blue banded turtle watches his brothers reach the top and half-heartedly smiles, but a happy feeling had settled in the pit of his stomach. "Okay, they're in position."

He begins to jog into the building, and increases his speed once he had gone past the garage doorway, and the sight of kraang droids sprawled lifeless on the floor welcomed him; informing that there may be no danger in this place at all.

"This could be easier than I…" Leo states, but once he passes the main door and into the center of the building, he freezes in his spot next to Casey, Raph and April who all had their arms raised and wearing shocked expressions. "…thought", he finishes his sentence, but paused in between, when he saw that they were surrounded by kraang droids on the first floor and the balcony on the high second floor, guns pointed at them.

"The ones who have broken into the kraang base are the ones known as the turtles; are the ones who have to put their hands up for the kraang", all the droids say at the same time, causing a chill to run up Leo's spine. Not facing these robots for a long time, and listening to them speak in unison was a little creepy, but that didn't mean he had forgotten how to fight the droids.

The moonlight streaming in from the wide open window caught his eye, and he spotted Donnie and Mikey, who were slowly crawling into the building from the same window, ready, and waiting to smash some droids once he gave a signal.

He tilts his head and catches the three pairs of eyes also staring at Donnie and Mikey up on the second floor, and they look from them to him, like they could read his mind, and see what he was thinking.

"Ready…" Leo waits a few moments to make sure everyone was ready before yelling and giving a battle cry. "Now!" he yells and grabs his katanas from behind his shell and charges at the group of kraang in front of him while dodging laser blasts. Raph follows his brother's lead and lunges at the kraang, deflecting the laser blasts with his sais with Casey right on his tail, knocking out droids with his explosive hockey pucks.

Upstairs, Mikey and Donnie are both battling the droids that are continuously running at them, and having trouble to push them off from the lack of space they have on the balcony. "From my calculations, this balcony could collapse right under our feet, from the weak and old material used, and the fact that there's a lot of kraang coming right for us", The purple banded turtle states, and Mikey responds with a quick nod, only hearing half of his brother's sentence since he was busy fighting off the kraang crawling all over and coming from all sides.

The red banded turtle glances up briefly and sees his brothers needing his assistance; leaves the battle on the floor to join his brothers on the floor above. Jumping onto the pillar, he uses his feet to run up the wall in a side-step motion, but done vertically. He swings up and jumps onto the handrail, sitting like a frog and impeccably balanced on both feet while spinning his weapons in his hands.

Raph springs up from his position and spin kicks the seven kraang droids in front of him, strikes them with his sais; eventually stabbing some and throwing them off the balcony to avoid the overcrowding of kraang droids. He repeats this several times nonstop, like a killing machine that ran on forever.

Mikey watched his brother with his mouth a gape as he struggled to hold off a droid with his nun chucks that he used to shield himself from blows. He had never seen his brother fight so seriously in his life, every maneuver and movement performed perfectly, like Leo's style of combat had kicked some sense into him.

A spark lit inside the young turtle, and with tongue hanging on the side of his mouth he spits out, "Booyakasha!"

Whirling his weapons in windmill motions, he sprints towards a droid and jumped onto the chest area; pushed it backwards with both his legs, the impact toppling over several more robots. His excitement caused the number of kraang on the balcony to lessen more and more every second, and Donnie, who was chuckling inwardly, made sure this was the only time he would be glad about his little brother's enthusiasm in battle.

It finally came down to the last droid, and Raph's final blow was jabbing it in the head, shoving it onto the floor, and stabbing it endlessly out of impatience.

He felt that it was his fault his brothers, Casey and April had gotten into this massive battle when he gave the 'all clear' signal, and if anyone was injured even slightly, he would take all the blame for it. He had thought that the building was empty all because he had his hopes up too high, and led everyone into a death arena, but he trusted that April and Casey's training had taken off, so they wouldn't get shot by the kraang. And now, he was taking his anger on the kraang droid, and though he knew it probably wouldn't be able to stand once he was through with it, he needed to vent his emotions somehow.

"Calm down Raph. We're okay", Donnie assures his brother as he pulls him away from the, almost-completely-crushed robot. The red banded turtle bends over and rests his hands on his thighs, but still standing; glances at Mikey who held his thumbs up at him, in which he tiredly grins in return.

Their rest and celebration for their victory was short lived, when a split second afterwards, more than three dozen kraang burst into the main room on the bottom floor, and Raph could hear Donnie correct his earlier statement nervously. "Well, maybe not."

Raph rushes to the railing of the balcony and observes how Leo's expression turns from shocked to angry, before the blue banded turtle hurriedly darts a look straight back at him on the second floor balcony to check if they were okay.

Leo feels content at seeing no injuries on his brothers, and points with his sword at the doorway leading to the stairway that goes higher up the building.

"Donnie, Raph, go upstairs and check the whole building for any sign of Jaylene, or anything that could be useful to find her", he instructs his two brothers, and they immediately dash to the entrance of the stairs while the blue banded turtle gestures for Mikey to join him on the battle on the bottom floor along with Casey and April. "We're staying down here."

* * *

"Hurry, hurry, hurry", Donnie says with the pitch of his voice raising and dropping as he pushes the shell of his brother in front of him. The two were out of breath and sprinting up the steps of the stairway as fast as they could, but each time they peered over the edge to look below them, the kraang droids were advancing. The droids were only three levels below, but considering they were robots, they would not tire from running up a long flight of stairs.

A laser blast had unexpectedly shot up from the couple of levels under them, and it singed one of the tails of Raph's mask before it vanished when it hit the ceiling. A squeal from shock escaped from the red banded turtle's lips, and his running paced picked up more speed rapidly. "C'mon, move your shell Donnie!" He barks at his brother, though not intentionally aggressively.

All the purple banded turtle can do is nod in response and continue running for his life; hoping the arm of a kraang droids wouldn't suddenly reach out and grab his leg. But luckily, the adrenaline pumped more blood into his legs and pushed him to his limits, so he was able to sprint for a little longer.

He glances behind him in curiosity, and just as he suspected, no kraang there to grab his leg, no kraang to shoot him with their laser guns. "Over there! We're gonna make it!" Raph yells in between breaths and Donnie whips his head around to settle his brown orbs on the doorway a level away. It may not have looked like much, but it was the door to their safety.

Three words flash over and over again before Donnie's eyes when the door was very close ahead, _Please don't trip, please don't trip, _and just on the last step, he was unfortunate to stumble over from the excitement and lack of oxygen, but at the same time, his brother had grabbed him on the top of his plastron and hurled themselves at the door, unable to continue on his legs. They burst through the doorway and rolled across the floor, panting heavily with the occasional sound of a high-pitched wheezing coming from Donnie.

"We…did…it…Raph", the younger turtle speaks with pauses in the middle from the sharp intake of breaths. He shifts his eyes to glance at Raph who lay on his stomach, arms spread on the floor a few feet away from him, and suddenly feels the cold air tickle his feet.

Realizing the door was still wide open, he uses a small piece of strength to slam the door shut with the single kick from his foot, and pick himself up from the ground to lock the door. A kraang keypad was placed on the wall next to the door, and the purple banded turtle groans as he crawls towards it. "Too…tired", he spits out and resolved to damage the keypad with a shuriken, and even though he preferred to disable some wires, this option was the easier way, and would save them a lot of time.

A sizzling buzz was heard when the small metal star was embedded in the kraang keypad, and the red banded turtle grinned at the sound, having a feeling that Donnie had used his method of picking locks instead of some complicated, scientific process.

The moonlight had its presence on them once again, the beams shining on their shells as they lay quietly, taking time to rest. A thought popped into Raph's head at the feeling of the light against his body, and his head shot up to face the direction of where it was coming from. The sight of a tall glass window appeared in front of him, and gazing in the other direction, he came to realize they were lying on the floor of a hallway, but this hallway seemed to have many rooms peeking from the walls.

This area looked like a place for people to sleep in, like a hotel, though quite run-down. Finally taking in the details, he began to record mentally what this place looked like to describe to his brothers, Casey and April later, at the intriguing discovery.

This hallway, or level, did not look like it belonged in this building at all, from the beige carpeted floors stretching everywhere, the walls covered in old, pale red painted walls, and every single door seemed to have a plain light brown color.

"Donnie, Don, get up", Raph crawls to his brother who was leaning his shell against the wall and shakes him on his left shoulder. The purple banded turtle mumbles and his eyes are barely open. _Never mind, I'll let him have his rest, _Raph decides after he waited for his brother for a few seconds and pats Donnie's head as he sluggishly gets up on his feet.

"Just yell if there's any trouble Don. I'm gonna go exploring", he says. Glancing over his shoulder out of caution, Donnie remains in the same position, slouched and resting against the wall. The red banded turtle smirks and turns back around, walking further down the hallway of the unknown.

_Well this level is very empty…_  
Raph takes note of this to put his senses on high alert. He may be a trained, stealthy ninja, but he felt that none of his training was going to help in any situation at the moment. The red banded turtle pauses behind the corner wall, and peeks down the hallway before continuing.

_I really don't like surprise ambushes…  
_He wasn't sure if that was supposed to sound like a threat to an enemy, but concealing the statement in his head didn't sound very threatening, especially if a large group of kraang droids appeared out of the blue.

He begins to tiptoe from that thought in his head, and was curious to see what was behind the doors, but there were too many to investigate, and if there was even a single kraang droid in one of these rooms, who knows what would happen to him and Donnie.

_Maybe I should wait for Donnie to finish catching his breath before I go investigating. Two is better than one, _the prudent side of him suggests, and he chooses to go with that option.

Without hesitation, Raph spins around and hurries down the hallway back to his brother, but still walking very discreetly. A flash of green was seen from the corner of his eye while he was scurrying, and his feet root themselves into the floor, causing his body to jerk forward from the unexpected halt.

He exhales when he balances himself from falling into a face-plant and stiffly walks back a few steps, the crack of an open door coming into view. The red banded turtle felt extremely curious as to why this was the only door open, and quietly debates with himself on whether to investigate or not, but his curiosity took over and his hand is soon grasping the cold, spherical metal door handle.

He steadily pushes the door open, like he was slowly unwrapping a present and the sight of a plain room with a bed and nightstand appears before him.

A dark shadow looms over the room, giving the room a more ominous vibe, and Raph narrows his emerald orbs to focus his attention on the figure wearing a particular green hooded sweater that he hadn't seen in a long time. With his hopes lifted very high, he felt like he had to swallow a large lump in his throat and his voice cracks as he speaks.

"Jaylene?"

* * *

_**Fin**_

Finally got this baby up. I did say in the previous chapter that I will take a long time before this would be up, but yay I have finally finished it. More exciting in this chapter because of the dodgy kraang building, but they were lucky they didn't run into Darryl at the place. I would have put him in this chapter so Casey and him could square off, but I didn't want to rush into that moment yet. Hopefully the next chapter will be up by next week and if not, only a couple of days after next week since I have an important test on Wednesday. Please stop by to place a review even though it may be a short sentence or comment!

_Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT 2012_


	4. Captured For Interrogation

Raph timidly closes the door behind him just as the green-hooded figure turned around, revealing their identity to him. He held his breath in hope, but exhaled deeply, maybe a little too deeply, after seeing the full-face of the figure.

The girl standing confidently in front of him was no doubt, not, Jaylene. The familiar straight blonde hair was draped neatly on her shoulders, with the green hood covering her head and exposing only small bits of her facial features. It was enough though, for Raph's eyes to lock with hers, and for him to take her details before she would possibly attack him since he did just barge into her room.

Locking his eyes with hers was like he was gazing at his own reflection. Her similar emerald green colored orbs conveyed the exact same feelings he had rushing through his body. Anger, boldness gleamed in her eyes, daring him to make a move, make the first gesture or comment. Also in her eyes was fear, almost shining brighter than her anger, but she tried her best to conceal her expressions.

None made a sound or move, and Raph feared that breaking eye contact would trigger her to strike, and holding his stare was difficult, but it showed he was not weak.

His mind was soon lost in a trance, and the longer he kept his gaze, the more he began searching through his memories of where he had seen her; at one point it became clear to him, two years ago, at the dark end of an alleyway, was where he met her for the first time.

_Encountered. We encountered each other for the first time, _he corrects. The image of her reaction to when she had seen him was vague in his mind, but he now remembered her.

The turtle soon finds himself trembling slightly, not from fear, but he figured it was because they may have been standing and not leaving each other's gaze for more than twenty minutes and negative thoughts had already found themselves embedded in his head.

'_Donnie is wondering where you are. Don't break eye contact or she could press a button to alert the kraang. You're wasting time, the others downstairs may be in trouble'_, the words appeared in his mind and he couldn't expel them.

He felt more than ready to give up.

_I…have…to-_

"Impressive. A warrior who is not afraid to back down", the girl spoke, and Raph exhales much like he did before. He was relieved that she was the one who had chosen to look away, and he responded to the thought by easing the tense muscles he had become aware of that were tense.

He absorbs the sound of her voice all in one moment, how delicate it was, but it too had the confidence expressed like in her eyes.

"But I do not accept intruders. The kraang have a special warning alarm for when there are intruders, and if they are dangerous. The alarm seemed to have gone off, and you burst into my room shortly afterwards. The kraang have told me that if that alarm goes off, the intruder cannot walk out of the building alive", she paused, and did not continue; Raph knew what she meant without further explanation.

He couldn't walk out of here alive, none of his brothers did, but he was still going to try. He knew her statement was a threat to him, a warning, but what she didn't know was that he took threats as challenge; she seemed to have hinted from that sentence, that she would commence her first attack soon.

The red banded turtle monitors her every move, waiting for her to lunge at him with a weapon at hand, as his ones are resting on the handles of his sais, readily waiting.

His eyes are still fixed on her as she strides to her nightstand adjacent to her bed and places both hands on the surface, leaning against it nonchalantly. _She's stalling, waiting for when you're not ready, _a voice in his head suggests and he grits his teeth through his closed mouth to help him focus.

Sensing she was about to strike, Raph swiftly pulls his sais out from his belt and holds them above his head in an 'x' position as she grabs her whip from in the pocket of her sweater and lashes it at him in one fluid motion. The whip luckily misses him by an inch, but he could feel the rush of the wind from the weapon as it cuts through the air above his head.

The elegance of her movements are graceful as she cracks the whip above her head, an ear-splitting sound ripping through the atmosphere, and a queasy feeling settles in the pit of his stomach from the sound. His confidence begins to fade and even as he pounces at her with the sharp points of his sai, he feels uncertain of his choice of action.

The blonde teen performs a backwards handspring before his weapons strikes her; the arm outstretched arm that was grasping his sai, gliding over her abdomen when she arches her back and bends backwards.

Raph could feel the heat rising up into his cheeks from missing his opponent, and the fact that he could lose his balance and topple on top of her if he was clumsy, but he is fortunate that the girl has her head sucked into their combat, and not realizing the red tinge on his face and neck.

He blocks another blow from her fist when she attempts to roundhouse kick him, and ducks when she tries again. The oncoming blows from the thrashing of her whip were also hard to dodge, especially since she was very precise with her accuracy, though his luck allowed the battle to become even.

Every time he had a chance to land a punch, he let the opportunity slip through his fingers, thinking that her defense to his move would cause him to lose this one-on-one, and then he wouldn't walk out of the building alive. _Duck now, jump to the right, strike now! _

Voices in his head commands the red banded turtle of the moves he should make, and it irritates him because it was a little distracting having a voice yelling at him in his head when he made a mistake and when he should advance. However, he did have another voice in his head that increased its volume and was soon louder than the scolding one. _You could do it Raph, you will defeat her…_

Gaining his courage again, he gives a fierce growl and curls his fingers in his fist as the voice repeats in his mind.

He swerves to the left as her fist holding her whip flies at him and barely misses his right shoulder, and he bites his lip from the nervous feeling coursing through his veins before he drops shoulder, rotates his body to the right and grabs her wrist tightly with his left hand.

Raph then pushes her away from him, still holding onto her wrist and lifts his leg up to sink his foot in the area slightly above her waist on her right side, and her reaction to his kick surprises him. The girl crumples to the ground, and in the process, hits her head on the side of her bed from the impact of when he pushes her away from him with more force than needed.

As her body hits the floor, a loud thumping sound bounced off the walls, and Donnie must have heard it since he burst into the room a few seconds later. His eyes are immediately placed on the unconscious figure lying on the ground with her head lulled to one side and both hands rested on top of the spot where Raph kicked her. His grip tightens around the door handle he was grasping and his jaw gradually drops, to the point where Raph could see his bottom teeth as he stood next to him.

Raph could feel the guilt slowly eating away at him the longer he stared at her unmoving body, so he glanced in the other direction.

"Who's she?" Donnie asks when he too had ripped his eyes off of the girl and focused them on his brother. The red banded turtle thought hard to answer the question, but try as he might, he could not find the words to explain about who she is.

She was only a girl whom he encountered two years ago when he saved Casey from her wrath, but for the sake of Casey's embarrassment when his brothers had asked how he met his friend, Raph tweaked the story to remove her completely out of it.

Nevertheless, she played an important part in Raph's friendship with Casey as he met him through her in a way, and now that he had left her out of the story he had told his brothers, it was difficult for him to explain why he had fought her, and who she is, to Donnie.

The purple banded turtle could identify that his brother could not explain and walked towards the girl to catch a glimpse of her facial features. He bent down beside her and raised her hood a bit while Raph was shaking behind him and chewing his lip anxiously. "Well, why were you fighting her then?" Donnie inquires instead, thinking it may have been the better question to ask.

"I-uh-she-", Raph stammers, though he is saved when Donnie raised a hand to motion for him to stop talking for a moment. The red banded turtle stepped backwards and leaned his shell against the wall before sliding down to sit on the ground in a round-shouldered slouch, indicating the transition from feeling tensed to relaxed, regarding his brother who had just waved off the question he felt so worried about to answer. "Actually I may be able to answer that question myself if you can't and battled her for no reason", and Raph blushes in discomfort at Donnie's sentence.

"Earlier today, I mentioned to you guys about this teen named Astraea right? Well, I think this is her", he states, hoping to leave this impacting discovery stuck in his brother's head for a while.

"So?" Raph replies, wearing an understanding along with a clueless expression.

Donnie sighs exasperatedly in return. _I can never leave someone like him with a sentence to ponder on. Always gonna ask another question. _

"If I must explain further, I am pointing out that it is quite peculiar how she is the only resident in a kraang base, even though there are hundreds of rooms that are all empty–yes I checked most of them while you were busy with whatever–and since she had lived in this base for a while, she must have heard something about Jaylene, or possibly even seen her before. It's only a theory which is probably wrong, but it may have some facts that are true in it…" he explains and trails off, but Raph didn't need any more reasons to understand his brother's theory. He tilted his head and watched his brother pace back and forth, obviously lost in his very intelligent and complex mind.

Thinking back to Donnie's points, he wondered what the conclusion of his theory was. _Did he mean we should bring her back to the lair for questioning? Cause I don't know if that's a good idea…_

His inference was no doubt what Donnie was about to do, considering that he stopped pacing and gave him a sheepish look mixed with a hopeful one. The only reaction Raph had to the look was a groan and a face-palm as many thoughts of what Leo's opinion on Donnie's suggestion might be. _Hopefully this girl will know a lot about Jaylene, cause bring her home for questioning better be worth it…_

* * *

_Nope not worth it. It was so not worth it._

The red banded turtle grumbles in frustration when he had glanced at the girl's direction for the twelfth time that morning. And yet, there she was, tied to his brother's wheelie chair in the lab, sitting motionless, and she had been in that same position for nearly five days, but in contrast to Jaylene's coma for five months, Jaylene had won by a mile.

_Maybe she's also in a coma? I didn't hit her that hard did I? _

Raph had asked himself that question on the second day of her unconscious state. By this time, the guilt had already consumed him whole, and it was the only feeling that he had whenever he looked at the girl.

_What's here name again? Oh yeah, Astraea, _the turtle reminds himself and rubs his eye sleepily while throwing himself, another question. _Have I not slept lately? Maybe sitting here and staring-uh-observing makes time fly by…_

He leaned his shell against the backrest of the chair he was sitting on and murmured, losing his train of thought when he had almost flipped backwards from sinking into his seat too far. He shuffled as he stood up and quickly glanced Astraea once again, curious to see if she had seen him, but no, she clearly hadn't.

The chair rocks as he shoves it away from him and hastened towards the blonde teen. He paused halfway between the journey from his seat, that had now spun away, and the kunoichi tied to the other chair. His options were clear: to attempt to wake her up somehow, or wait, and she would wake up in her own time. He snorted at the second suggestion.

_And even I know I can't be that patient. _

Raph lingered in his place and shook his head to erase the thoughts that would stop him. Without any more hesitations, he persisted, but before he was to speak or brush his fingers against her skin to wake her, four words flashed before his eyes. _It may not work…_

He swatted his hand as if the words were like annoying flies, and said, "Astraea, wake up…gah I really don't want to say this but…please?"

After giving that request to Astraea he felt like an imbecile, believing that asking her to wake up like he was some prince charming would work. Face-palming, he trudged to retrieve his chair for him to sit on again, but stopped in his tracks at hearing a small, feminine moan of pain come from the other side of the room. He peered from the corner of his eyes and gasped, for Astraea, seemed to have regained consciousness.

It was a miracle that she woke up from a few soft words; however, now that she was awake, Raph was panic-stricken. He dropped to his knees and crawled on his knees to the wall near the doorway to flick off the light switch, which he did not even know why he had chosen to do so.

The room was now dark with the presence of a thin strip of light from the crack of the sliding door, and the red banded turtle began to crawl once again, but this time, it was to inform his brothers about Astraea's awakening.

"Leo, Donnie, Mikey, Casey, April!" he called out while flailing his arms in the air, but he immediately placed his hands on his sides at the single thought that he may have looked like Mikey with those actions.

Everyone in the living room tilted their heads in his direction with quizzical thoughts and expressions. "That girl…Astraea, woke up–wait, where's Mikey?" Raph says and pants, though pauses at the absence of his little brother.

A light flicking on catches his attention, and he could see the white shining light of a lamp, lit up in the lab. _Mikey, why can't you be more patient…_

He glares and narrows his eyes at the sign of Mikey already in the lab; growls furiously. He stomps back towards the lab, though pauses at the doorway with the gang standing closely behind him, as he stifles a laugh from the sight in front of him.

"The names Holmes, Shermike Holmes", Raph hears a voice say, and it did not take him a long time to figure out it was Mikey. The squeaky voice, and the attempt to sound threatening made him laugh harder, but from inside the dark room, in the center of the lab he could see Astraea seated in the chair, eyes wide with a slightly horrified look in them as she struggled against the ropes tying her hands behind her back. His eyes avert and settle on his little brother who stood behind her, though he could sense she was unaware of his brother's presence.

Sighing in frustration, he slid the door wider, allowing more light into the lab, and through the darkness, he sees his brother giving him an annoyed look in which he casually shrugs to in reply. He flicks the light switch on with his index finger only to interrupt his brother having a crack at interrogating the kunoichi, and as he strolls confidently towards Mikey, he slaps the back of his little brother's head with the back of his hand.

Astraea stares at the turtles in confusion as Raph storms towards her with dark clouds and lightning following him. One moment a 'Shermike Holmes' introduced himself, and the next, all of her enemies were gathered in one room and probably going to question her, when she figured out that that was the reason why she was brought here.

A few moments of thinking, and she decides to 'keep her cool', like Karai would in these situations once an angry looking turtle approached her, his hands gripping tightly onto the arm rests and his eyes drilling into hers.

She held her breath as he examined her closely and tilted her head to avoid eye contact. It was not because he had bad breath or anything, but she felt very uncomfortable at how close their faces are, though the turtle seemed to have not noticed.

Once he had moved away to sulk near the back of the group surrounding her, she opens her mouth to speak, and also beats Donnie to it. "No need for introductions", she says, hoping it would convey she was not afraid of them, and from their stunned expressions, she felt content in knowing she was successful, so she continued.

"I already know all of your names and who you are. Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael", she says and gestures with her head to each of them as she spoke, but froze at seeing Casey and April.

"So this is the prominent April O'Neil", Astraea said, and the corner of her lip twitched, converting her serious face into a risk-taking girl with a daring, cocky smirk. Her hood was no longer covering her head, and with one graceful flip with her head, she had her blonde hair draped on one shoulder instead of arranged messily. Her smirk grew wider when she spotted Mikey taking a step back, but Donnie and Casey taking a step forward towards her in April's defense, and stopped herself from laughing out loudly.

"Oh and I almost forgot to mention…" the blonde teen began, but Casey spoke out, not holding anything back, before she said his name. "Casey Jones", the dark haired man states.

The blonde teen chortled this time and managed to get out, "Yes, I was getting there, but my, my, someone is eager to introduce themselves", just after she shook her head and coughed to restrain herself again. She sighed and this time was the one to examine everyone's faces to check their reactions, but on the inside, she was not enjoying her actions and words as she felt like she was not herself in faking what she really wanted to say and feel.

Mikey frowned as he watched the kunoichi toy with them, like she knew everything about everyone. He fought the urge to do something to her since Leo would scold him, though he was pretty sure that he wanted to do the same, so the young turtle chose to pipe up to save himself the trouble from getting, in trouble.

Just as his jaw lowered when he was about to open his mouth, Astraea butted in stating, "It is easier to take down your enemies when you know what they are like…"and the orange banded turtle's face burned red from being hit by a wave of humiliation, though the humiliation was replaced by a satisfied feeling in his chest when his brother has a rage at the blonde teen.

"Who do you think you are?!" Raph asks angrily, annoyed at her attitude, though she was not at all terrified or bothered by his tone, and replied, "I believe I am a prisoner here…but not for long."

The red banded turtle blinks and was bewildered by her response.

"Meaning?"

"Karai, the Footbots and possibly even Xever will rescue me."

He mutters when she replies and takes long strides forwards, pulling on his furious face. "And how could you be so sure? Do you really think you could trust Karai…and Shredder?" Raph counters and adds, "It's been five days since you've been here…face it…they're not looking for you."

At his statement, the blonde teen senses that the walls of her confidence and her stoicism may have been torn down by this particular turtle. He seemed to be the only one capable of challenging her and standing up to her fake arrogance. He caused her to blink back tears.

"Raphael, enough", Leo says instantly and firmly, seeing the pang of hurt in Astraea and Raph crosses his arms at his elder brother's order.

The red banded turtle didn't know what his brothers were thinking, or everyone else, but he was feeling quite proud of himself, even if Leo didn't believe it. _You have finally found your match Astraea…_, he says in his mind, and glares daggers at the girl tied to the seat, but his achievement was brief with Astraea having another reply to to throw at him as a counter statement.

"They will. I know it", Astraea replies, her voice sort of shaky, and even she could identify the twinge of doubt in her sentence. Everyone in the lab exchanges looks at each other when they heard her sentence, as Raph exhales tiredly.

_This is going to be a long day…_

* * *

_**Fin**_

Hah, that was exciting, and took a while to write. Apologies for the lateness…

I thought it'd be a piece of cake to write, but guess not. I'm thinking that next week the updates will be late, most likely, because I don't know when I can update. I'm kind of just taking any spare time I have to update, so the endings will seem rushed, but I tried my best.

Onto the story though, sadly, the green-hooded figure is not Jaylene, but then this story would be a lot shorter if it was. Raph has been blowing off steam more often since he was disappointed that Jaylene was not at the building, so he's acting kind of strange if that's what you thought. In the next chapter, more about Astraea will be revealed, including Xever's short mention and it will lead to the main plot of the story. Thanks for reading and please review even though it may be a short sentence!

_Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT 2012_


End file.
